Damn Ram!

[M.Giangrasso]

Okay. So I just acquired 2 pairs of beautiful german blue rams. I put them in a 20g long heavily planted aquarium with 4 (male, of course) Apistogramma sp. "steelblue." The two smalelr rams, each about 1" in length decided to pair up and spawn just 4 days later. (today)

So the female's oviposter and the male's oviposter-esque organ and hanging full out,. They clean a leaf, become extremely aggressive towards the apistos twice their size that had beatent them pretty badly earlier on. The fmeale lowers herself to the rock, begins to quiver, and lets out a string of eggs. She moves away, and the male comes in to fertilize. He lowers himself, faces the eggs, and then he...

...EATS THEM.

This repeats. They defend the nest site vigorously, but the male refuses to stop consuming the eggs. I cross my fingers, I hope, I even say a little prayer. Nothing.

So theyb are still doing this as I type, but I can't even watch them. It is too depressing. Is there any hope for this pair? Could it be that theya re just inexperienced? What can I do to possibly curb this behavior?

Thanks.

Mike Giangrasso

 

[cdawson]

Most likely it's just inexperience, give them time. Eventually he'll figure out he needs to fertilize them.

BTW what is your ph and hardness?

 

[M.Giangrasso]

pH is 6.0, hardness is very near 0 (all RO water, filtered over peat with BW extract)

 

[Apistt_ed]

Hello, it's not unusual for rams to do that. I've witnessed everything from an old pair eating their eggs and even fry to a young pair raise eggs to fry to young adult fish on their first try! the problem is most likely that rams, being artificially reared so often now a days, they lose the abilities needed to raise spawn "correctly". As cdawson says, it may just be inexperience, which they should get over with a few more tries. best of luck. john

 

[M.Giangrasso]

The other female, who is about twice the other rams' size, is showing her oviposter. She has yet to pair up with a male, but I suspect she'll choose the male who is her size, though very skittish. The little male (egg eater) and little female are still defending the leaf which is void of eggs. It is so sad. But maybe the big female will spawn and I'll (she'll) have better luck.

I really do hope they just need a few more tries.

 

[cdawson]

The other female, who is about twice the other rams' size, is showing her oviposter. She has yet to pair up with a male, but I suspect she'll choose the male who is her size, though very skittish. The little male (egg eater) and little female are still defending the leaf which is void of eggs. It is so sad. But maybe the big female will spawn and I'll (she'll) have better luck.

I really do hope they just need a few more tries.

Tank raised rams are alot like tank raised angels, if they're artificially raised they're forced to learn their parental instincts on their own rather than learn them from their parents. This is common throughout most tank raised cichlids. Reason number one alot of people are so pro-parent raising when it comes to cichlids. I've been experimenting with a couple of my breeding pairs, letting them take a few (up to 20) and stealing most of them to see if this is true or not for most apistos.

 

[M.Giangrasso]

Well, the big female has her 'poster way out, but seems to be taking a liking to the little male (egg eater).

I'm going to do a 25% water change to attempt to get them to spawn. I hope to God the little male does not mate this time around.